Thursday, May 31, 2012

When Connie asked if I would run the final, a 5K in the park, with her "Individual Fitness" students, I jumped at the chance to get paid to work out!

I started in the back with a student who was not an athlete but was working really hard to do his best. We played what is affectionately known in my family as "the lollipop game," where we pick a point and run until we get there. Then we pick another point and walk to there. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Breaking it down into small goals is a great way tackle a hard task!

We covered the first 1.43 miles in 22:31, a 15:47 average, before the student headed to the finish.

I kept going, speeding up and trying to pick off students in front of me. I taunted them, saying they better not let me catch up and pass them! One group was walking but took off running when they saw me coming :)

Brad was on his way to climb in Northern California, and Dad was already down at Fort Stevens setting up our campsite.

Dad called while we were en route and asked if we wanted to meet at Mo's in Cannon Beach for some grub. Because we hit no traffic, we decided there was plenty of time to eat and get to camp in time to set up before dark.

The McKee ladies:

It was gorgeous out there:

After consuming chowder, shrimp salads and crab sandwiches, we made our way up the coast to Fort Stevens State Park.

We settled in around the campfire, with citronella and bug spray to ward off the giant, though not-too-potent, mosquitoes. Eventually, I turned in and slept like a baby.

In researching fun things to do with our weekend, we discovered that Long Beach has a Memorial Day garage sale... like the entire peninsula! So we drove across the bridge into Washington and immediately saw sign after sign after sign announcing sales.

We stopped at many, and we all got some treasures. I scored a brand-new Vera Bradley bag (still sporting its original $84 tags) for $5! Even if it's a knock off, it was only $5 :) And at a church sale, we filled a grocery bag with odds and ends and then pooled our money to cover the $3 bag fee.